Zedagain

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  • iPhone Tech Support Fun

    Apple Tech Support
    I am an avid iPhone user. My wife has called me an App Bully. The iPhone does some really cool stuff. What it does not seem to do well, is localize. Apple really is not playing fair. I purchased my iPhone in Canada and it was already designed so that it followed Canadian law in the Appstore. Apple also locks me out of foreign appStores.
    What the iPhone does not allow is proper keyboard localization. If you try to surf to a Canadian .ca website, you have to type in .ca. If you are trying to surf to a .com website, you can just push the .com button. The frustrating part about this issue, is that each of the buttons on the keyboard has multiple input possibilities. If you hold down the .com button, it expands to allow you to choose; .edu, .net, .org or .com.
    I decided I needed to call Apple about this. I really would like my .ca button.
    Apple’s answer to a human operator
    Calling Apple was really easy. I browsed to their website from my iPhone, and clicked on a button that said “call Apple”. My iPhone called Apple. An obvious computer generated voice answered, and then announced that it was not a human operator but could handle full sentences and requests. It was eager sounding and I launched my request.
    Apple robot meltdown

    “I am annoyed that when I hold down the .com button it doesn’t allow me to select .ca! What is the point of having multiple button functions if none are worth having?” My tirade started unfocused and finished unfocused. The computer clearly felt I had little to offer as an Apple customer. It announced that it was now deciding where my call should be directed, then in a very Orwellian move played the sound of typing on a keyboard and hung up.
    On the second call I was very specific about my system but gave little information about my actual issue. The computer directed me to an actual human, after once again pretending to type on a keyboard while calculating the meaning of my spoken sentence.
    Apple’s human face
    The Apple Tech Support I spoke too was Steven. I explained my Localization concern, and Steven was sympathetic but noncommittal. He did mention that he wanted my request to happen and would forward it along. His vocal accent was clearly Eastern Canadian. I asked why Apple would localize tech support and not the iPhone keyboard. He thought that was a good question to.
    Apple only has one human face, Steve Jobs.
    Apple didn’t really help me but they did leave me with a sense of accomplishment. Obviously, Steven was Steve Jobs. In just a few days now, I will have my .ca button. I can feel it!

  • Rocking the Night Away. Camping in My Future Hammock/Tent/Shelter

    Thurston Meadows
    Chilliwack, British Columbia
    Canada

    My two boys and I decided to go camping last weekend. I was very excited, a field test for my Hennessy hammock was needed!

    The weather was hot! 32 degrees Celsius or 90 degrees Fahrenheit depending which side of the thermometer you read. I was proud of my boys, we built inukshuk in the middle of chilliwack river, found a couple rock fossils and maintained a well kept campsite for almost 72 hours without my wife.

    The boys had their own tent that didn’t fit any stinking adults. I was freed to sleep over night in my hammock. I had made some preparations based on my test nap and front yard setup. I also followed some online advice.

    The biggest difference between my nap and a full night rest is about 7 hours. The hammock fit me best when I was laying on my back, I normally sleep on my side. I could get used to the change though. The shelter was VERY comfortable, I did wake a few times both nights aware of differences but it was a great way to catch shut eye. If you are concerned make an effort to sleep on your back in bed for a few days.

    I had read online that adding an inflatable pad was a necessity. The tent is suspended off the ground and during the night, wind will cause considerable heat loss. I purchased a Thermorest Trail lite regular length self inflating pad at MEC. I feel I choose the wrong pad for the task. The regular length pad obstructed the womb style entryway and my legs did not need the extra support. Once settled it did give great shaping to the hammock though. I had plenty of breathing room for a guy in a water proof cocoon! I plan on trading for a short length mattress somehow.

    The next consideration was tent pegs. For a complete setup four ground pegs are required if there are no laterally located anchor points. I feel the shelter is more comfortable when the side tether straps pull straight out, at the forestry campsite there was nothing to anchor to and I was forced to use ground pegs. I went through 7 plastic tent pegs making 4 stick. I was disappointed. I am going to look for some titanium or aluminum pegs designed for gravel. If I find something better, I will let you know! Until then, I will be trying for campsites that allow me side anchor points which I prefer anyway.

    I am a voracious reader. I carry books everywhere I go. This was a problem. As a novice hammock shelter user I had no tolerance for anything loose in the tent. Which was why about an hour after going to sleep, I woke up, pulled the trade paper back out of my back, threw it out the womb opening and fell back asleep. My advice is that you leave everything but yourself, your pad and your sleeping bag out.

    The hammock looks like a tight fit but allows freedom of movement. The second night I watched an episode of True Blood on my iPhone. I had plenty of room to hold the phone up. My shoulders were not restricted either.

    The Hennessy hammock impressed me at every turn. I couldn’t recommend one more. I drifted off to sleep rocking in the wind. Just like a normal hammock, gentle movements turned into pacifying sways.

    I am thrilled with my Hennessy hammock. On Sunday morning packing my tent took 4 minutes. I plan on buying the Hennessy Snakeskin, a sock-like tube that makes packing it down even easier.

    Next test, Radium lake trail in Chilliwack. 13 kilometer hike, 1 kilometer of elevation. I am very excited.

  • One World, Six Billion Votes

    Technology has changed every facet of life as a human more than once in the last century. What is slower to change is human thought. Even though we live in times of great prosperity, there are huge areas where children go without basic needs.

    In a recent conversation, I was discussing government options with an insightful friend. Could democracy work world wide? Was a utopian socialist government possible assuming unlimited energy? What is a reasonable quorum when your voting population needs to represent a one world decision? In “Starship Troopers” by Robert Heinlein the right to vote and call oneself a citizen was earned with military service in defense of the Earth in an interplanetary war!

    By the end of the discussion/debate/disagreement we had made lots of insightful forecasting, but only one thing we both consistently agreed to. Before there could be a world wide vote taken, there would need to be a foolproof voting process.

    Technology is slowly reinforcing the security of the world wide web. If all the world powers could cooperate long enough to pick one system, the possibility of an Electronic Vote exists. An Evote system would need to be self regulating and operate outside of any single government’s control. The Evote regulatory would require exceptional military support and the ability to lock or remove voting privileges to offending regions and people. Could such an entity even exist in a truly democratic community? If you have an opinion, I would love to know!

    Check out growing world population and more http://www.worldometers.info/population/

  • Scarcity is Becoming Obsolete, Are We?

    I like talking about change. I am very optimistic about the future. All the things that challenge our world are changing.

    In the past, society was based upon scarcity. People wanted access to things they could not have. People started to exchange goods they had access to for other desirable goods. To facilitate this societies created currency, a portable representation of assets. Barter changed to commerce.

    Commerce is great. For a three year monthly cash commitment to a mobility provider (www.fido.ca) and a small start up payment, I got this sweet iPhone I am typing this blog on. This is very reasonable when compared to a feudal barter transaction! Feudal Zack might have wanted access to the duke’s library and archives ( the nearest communication and information analogue I could think of ). What would that have cost me?! My life indentured to a duke as his scribe? He certainly wouldn’t let me have 24/7 access to the Internet and a low day time minutes rate!

    The problem with commerce is that it depends on scarcity. Technology is pushing against that barrier. Would commerce work in a society based on abundance? Probably not. If a freely accessible energy source was tapped would our society be poised to use it? If distribution was not a concern would we have shipping magnates? If production was reduced to a 3D printer that could self replicate would we need production lines or slaves making phones in some other country? I doubt it.

    So what could a society barter in a world without want? Artistic expression? Information architecture and discourse? Unique insights and divine interpretations? It sounds cool. Like a Greece inspired Olympus conclave.

    There is also the opposite possibility. Horror films and science fiction stories love to frighten the audience with a world where abundance is withheld from Joe Everyman. Freedoms and liberties suspended. My favorite two are 1984 and The Island. 1984 has been heavily dissected but is very illuminating anyway, history and information is altered, controlled, destroyed or withheld to control three mighty societies. The Island is very blunt in it’s criticism of technology unfettered but features a society who creates a small internalized society and harvests from it.

    As a society we need to be poised to alter with these winds of change. I would rather be writing haiku than doublespeak.

    Fleeting time well spent.
    Our changes leave us behind.
    Singularity.
    ~singularity haiku by Zack

    Govt inc 2(taxation) 2 aid troops.
    ~ newspeak

  • Confessions of a Late Night Outliner

    A late night attempt at preparing an outline for a portfolio was the victim of a crappy router. After failing to retrieve the outline I prepared this one. It made me feel better writing it, hope it works for you!

    Portfolio Outline the Sequel.
    “teh Burninator cut”

    Cover Sheet & Introduction
    •not as inspired as first idea.
    •introduce myself and greet reader.
    •not sure he wants a cover sheet but too bad.

    Org Chart or TOC
    •I would love an org chart. They are cool and color coding is bad ass.
    •I might use a TOC because I lack the superior skills necessary to rock the org chart.
    •at least one of them is required. Not sure he wants one but a 30 page document needs something.

    Employment Op Section
    •an overview and section title page. (He seems to like overviews). Explain as research results of tech writer industry article. Seems weak but I think the assignment was weak.
    •barely edited job market research

    User/Software Mesh Section
    •an overview and section title page.
    •letter of thanks from the owner of the travel agency I profiled. Coincidently my mom. My character assassination had the additional plus of suggesting some worthwhile changes in doc mgmt she plans on implementing.
    •barely edited software analysis
    •barely edited user profiles
    •summary sheet tying section together

    Lab Section
    •an overview and section title page
    •lab 4 is mysteriously absent and never referenced. In a bizarre twist, the base ten system is now base 9. Calculator salesmen rejoice.
    •in an attempt to avoid blatant Earth hate I will compress all labs to 3 pages and really should remove individual title pages. I am worried that those ugly title pages are important.
    •I will add screenshots to two labs. Unpredictability might just be my best weapon against him!

    Blog Section.
    •seems like after thought.
    •1 page with short introduction of 1 or 2 paragraphs immediately followed by title list of ten blogs.
    •in a pathetic attempt to assuage myself for having worked so hard on something that seems so unimportant I will choose a snazzy font for my titles. Something astounding!

    Summary
    •my mom(referenced above) always likes to remind me that kissing ass never hurts, I suspect my pride will sting but I still plan on writing a summary that tries to tie the portfolio together while thanking the reader.
    •yah. That reader.

    Appendix
    •anyone that could pull off an ORG chart would obviously have appendixes.
    •why isn’t it appendi? Psychic octopi have all the luck.
    •a style guide?
    •seriously something. Maybe just a list of things in my man purse.

    Headers & footers
    •all updated to reflect something cool.
    •I think the Accent 2 ms word 7 page numbering will do just right.

    Excellent! Time to fill in the bullets.

  • iPhone Accessories, Stat!

    I have an iPhone. I do stuff on it. Games are my preference. I also use it to organize my life across the calendar. Word processing came next. Then movies and old television programming. My iPhone kicked my laptop’s ass. My iPhone ruined my desktop time. My iPhone sees more airtime on the family television than cable!

    So far I only have four iPhone accessories. I have an Invisible Shield membrane over the screen, a Roots rubberized shell, an audio/video cable to plug it into external display and the Apple Bluetooth keyboard. I want/need/obsess over more.

    Apple opened up the code needed to use the iPhone port to third party vendors with the release of iOS4. Be ready for lots of accessories to hit the market. Pico projectors, keyboards, external speakers and microphones are already out there. What comes next?

    My shopping cart is currently topped by a pico projector. The specific model keeps changing but the concept is awesome! I already use my iPhone as a portable media source but up until now have actually needed a TV or computer monitor to play my data. With the projector I will be able to view my data anywhere. I watched 3 seasons of Chuck while camping, it would have looked WAY better “bigger than life” pasted across rock face or my tent. Who needs movie theaters?

    I also want a Bluetooth joystick, a solar recharging system, the Personal Area Network sweatshirt from thinkgeek.com, a corkscrew attachment….. and more.. Santa are you listening? This list keeps growing I had better CC Baby Jesus….

  • From Here to There for Hardware

    I love tech toys. I dream of a future: plugged in, tuned up and better than now. The things I buy reflect that.

    I am picky with the innovations I choose but have an input device weakness. I’ve dragged my wife to an industrial district in Los Angeles to buy a programmable macro system, hit every Fry’s Electronics between Vancouver, San Diego and Las Vegas looking for a joystick with one extra button, my iPhone has an external bluetooth keyboard and I have four different mice I use depending on my needs.

    One of the biggest problems with input devices is the materials they are created with. I am tired of clutching impact plastic and slowly etching my fingerprints into a dull matte surface with the salts in my nerd rage sweat! I am digging this new aluminum trend. The aluminum doesn’t scratch easily, radiates hand heat and has a very solid feel.

    The perfect input device needs to address certain needs. Is it solid? Input devices should not shift, or click inside when moved. Are the buttons reliable? Buttons will see hard use for the entire life span of the device. How connectible is it? Wifi and Bluetooth input devices are great and extra wires just ruin my computing zone.

    So far I have been impressed with Saitek, Microsoft, Apple and Logitech input devices. Keep them coming.

  • Singularities. There and Back Again!

    From www.Dictionary.com
    “sin·gu·lar·i·ty [sing-gyuh-lar-i-tee]
    -noun, pl.-ties for 2–4.
    1. the state, fact, or quality of being singular.
    2. a singular, unusual, or unique quality; peculiarity.
    3. Mathematics singular point.
    4. Astron. (in general relativity) the mathematical representation of a black hole.
    Origin: 1300–50; ME singularite < LL singulāritās. See singular, -ity

    singular point
    -noun Mathematics
    1. a point at which a given function of a complex variable has no derivative but of which every neighbourhood contains points at which the function has derivatives.
    Also called singularity.
    Origin: 1885–90i”

    In Science Fiction
    “Singularity: A force of change that affects society in a drastic permanent way. After the point of Singularity nothing can be accurately predicted,”

    If you read science fiction you have read about “the Singularity”. The notion is that some item of technology will change things so much that nothing can be logically predicted beyond that point. It sounds pretty fantastic but the concept should not be discounted. History is full of singularities.

    To be a Singularity or “Singular Point” the change needs to affect all levels of society. Things really need to change. The definition of “Singular Point” indicates that some component of a complex formula will not obviously affect its own formula but will affect all neighbouring formula. If we apply this interpretation to a societal Singularity we have some parameters to examine history with. Most previous Singularities have been either warfare or information system technologies.

    The easiest example of a military technology that caused a Singularity was the Atomic Bomb. The arms race evolved with the first use of an Atomic Bomb. Things changed. Ground wars started to lose impact. Long distance aircraft became a key factor in offensive military campaigns. It had become possible to completely eliminate an enemy without landing troops! The exploration of atomic energy provided a very inexpensive fuel source. The changes are still echoing through society as we struggle to normalize the area around the Chernobyl reactor meltdown site and the Hiroshima bomb site. The Atomic Bomb was an obvious Singularity but not the only one.

    Two recent technologies have caused Singularities.

    The ARPAnet started as a military communications grid that would survive massive infrastructure damage, the government cancelled the application as a failure and they felt the ARPAnet was too open to infiltration. The project was hosted at universities across North America and survived the lack of military interest. It grew and was altered to encourage a larger network. It became the Internet. A massive shared resources network that has changed every level of government, military and commercial endeavour in ways that could never have been expected.

    A small device that was offered by Sony in 1979 caused a societal revolution of its own. A simple device that was created to play music on the go. The Sony Walkman really changed things. A new word started to creep across the planet. Mobility! The Sony Walkman was a portable way to serve information. It changed communications, digital photography became commonplace and portable music players have penetrated almost every other portable electronic device. The Sony Walkman might not seem like a big deal but it is still rocking the boat!

    A larger Singularity is coming. It might be an energy system, it might be an information system or it might be a transportation system but whatever it is, things will irrevocably change. These changes might be exciting or they might be horrifying. The concept is popular because we live in a time of change. When historians dissect their past in the deep future they will be looking at key events and how those events reverberated through history. The only thing that can be predicted accurately is that the change will catch us unprepared.

    Good thing I love surprises!

  • My Amazing Tent/Hammock/Chair/Shelter

    My new hammock is amazing. Is it a tent? Is it a hammock? Is it a swinging chair? Who cares. I love it!

    Hennessy Hammocks market hammocks from Galiano island. My gut instinct says they are very granola. Hippies don’t usually make cool tech toys. I think they hit the mark here though. The Hennessy A-Sym Hammock could do a bunch of things I wanted and a few I did not expect.

    It is load balanced. A nerd sat down at an abacus or a cad program and designed a shelter system that requires two primary anchors and between two and four secondary anchors. I can lay down in it, rustle a lot and it very quickly stops shifting and rocking. It weighs 2 pounds 12 ounces and has no solid components. I can cram it in the bottom of my pack and squish it without worrying about shape.

    So far I have only used it in my front yard. To be blunt, I was unaware narcolepsy was environmental. After a nice nap I collapsed the hammock and put it away. I didn’t make any effort to fold it correctly and just jammed it into the little bag, it fit!

    My first planned excursion will be in August, I will let you know more when I do!

  • Somewhere between Meatspace and Cyberspace

    Until now, humanity has only had to deal with two “levels” of reality. The first level of reality is the physical one, it is where humanity’s five senses interact and interpret the world. The second “level” of reality is harder to define but constitutes some concepts like “love”, “hate”, religion and spirituality. The first level has been referred to as “life”, meatspace and IRL(short for In Real Life). The second level is as hard to name as to define, but it is the level where the soul would reside and where love happens at first sight.

    Technology is already offering one new level of reality with another in development! Augmented reality is a new form of “enhanced” reality. The easiest way to demonstrate augmented reality is to talk about the way a sport event is displayed on the screen of a television. The actual game is displayed and additional information is provided visually across the background. Taken to the extreme, imagine a pair of eyeglasses that were tiny televisions. You are walking down the street and look over at the chinese food restaurant, the bland physical exterior is transformed by your eyeglasses! A fantastic dragon curls over the building, it’s knowing eyes projecting images of the fine cuisine served inside. You don’t feel like chinese, but you add an indicator mark to the city map that hovers at 5% transparency over your field of vision. A person to person video call comes in so you replace your map transparency with the image of your mom who notices your current status is set to “hungry”. The world has so much information, augmented reality is one way of letting that information flow over to the Real World.

    Augmented reality sounds very futuristic but is not even a recent technology. Pilots in the 1950s had very effective flight data available in their field of view onboard commercial air flights. Move forward to the 1970s and the military was providing combat pilots HUD(heads up displays) on the inside of their helmet. Fast forward to the gritty 2Ks and the military has gone beyond, now they have guns with camera eyes, that allow the shooter to point the gun around a corner and see a sneak peek on top of their visual field with an in helmet display.

    Anywhere an operator will benefit from an additional information stream, augmented reality is a solid fit. The quickest way to tap into augmented reality is on your mobile phone. There are augmented reality note taking apps for most smart phones. Some allow you to share your “geo-synced” comments with your friends and some record your movements and observations.

    Augmented reality is really only a stepping stone to artificial reality. Artificial or virtual reality is the opposite of augmented reality. Artificial reality is a data world that has points of ingress to allow your perceptions to flow into the data stream. Artificial reality is still not viable as an end user technology. At minimum it will require surgery and new terms to describe new forms of perception.

    The most exciting thing about having “levels” of reality is the growth that will come with it. Humans share “meatspace” with the animals, it is the default interface to the world. Spiritual and religious beliefs layer the world with art, emotion and beauty and challenge us to strive for more. Augmented reality allows us to record and share our perceptions in a unique contextual way.

    If meatspace lets us touch, then our soulspace allows us to feel. Augmented reality lets us record and share our perceptions. I wonder how virtual reality will change how we interface our perceptions to reality.